


Heated Tricks

by Leticheecopae



Category: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Genre: Ass Play, Comedy, F/M, I named the Winged Demon Beauregard, Lock and Shock being loving assholes to one another, Magic and Spells, Magical restraints, Minor Tail Play, NSFW, Oral Sex, Porn With Plot, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Restraints, Silly, Vaginal Sex, magic contraceptives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 05:10:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15789612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leticheecopae/pseuds/Leticheecopae
Summary: The Trick-or-Treaters of Halloween Town are all grown up, but that doesn't mean they've stopped their pranks. But pranks are stressful, and while Barrel has his cooking to help de-stress, Lock and Shock are more adept at helping one another blow off steam.





	1. Glitter

**Author's Note:**

> A story for the wonderful [Nasubionna](https://nasubionna.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr! She does absolutely spectacular Nightmare Before Christmas art, and I had such a fun time coming up with this story. Figuring out how the Trick-or-Treaters would grow up and develop was a cool thing to think about as I grew up with the movie. This would be based with them just about to enter their twenties I would say, so definitely over 18, but still with those adolescent tendencies popping through (though as someone in their 20's, I can say that those never stop). I hope you enjoy the story!

Waking up sore isn’t the worst thing. At least not when Shock can lounge about in her bog of a bed; surrounded in old blankets with books and a few Witch Weekly magazines within her reach. The newest is sitting on her nightstand, waiting to be read as it boasts about how to get your warts looking larger and more gruesome with just three simple ingredients. 

Waking up sore when she has crap to do, however, is not so fun. Neither is the type of sore.

“Damn it,” she grumbles as she sits up and rolls her neck. Her spine is stiff from pouring over potion and spell books all night. It shouldn’t be so damn hard to find a color-changing elixir or charm, at least one that is fully customizable, but so far she’s come up with nothing. She only has a few days left to figure it out before Halloween, and if she can’t get it right, then the plans with Lock and Barrel go right out the window.

“I’ll just have to make one up myself,” she huffs as she digs uneven nails into her shoulder and tries to loosen it up. Shock only succeeds in making it ache all the more.

Climbing out of bed, she stretches her rod-thin arms above her head to try to realign the crook in her spine. It does a bit, but not much, and she shuffles around to find her dress for the day. The closet holds a few that had been dunked in the river and saltwater, removing any unwanted charms or residue, and she selects one of the muddier purples. 

Her brazier hangs like a sleeping bat from one of the bars. Shock ignores it. She doesn’t have much for the cups to hold, and she has no reason to stash vials along the band when at home. She also forgoes the bloomers. If the wind decides to blow up her skirt —the pervert, it never does just blow through people’s hair— it's not like the boys haven’t already seen it. That’s what happens when people lived with each other for almost two decades; they see each other naked because Hecate only knows that a closed door means STAY OUT. 

She tugs the dress down until it falls over her wide hips, hanging somewhat lopsided in length around her calves. The last thing she adorns herself with is her hat. No, she does not need one inside, but the hat practically lives on her. How else is she supposed to gain quick access to her spell and potion ingredients? Creating a portal to her cabinet in a pouch is just a ridiculous idea. Either it gets caught on everything, or it’s too small for her to look through while rooting around with her hand. It also gives the local bats a place to hang beside her hair, which she hates.

Pulling out her desk chair, she drops into the creaking wood and gets to work. The book she had been pouring over the night before gets shoved off to the side. Another tome, this one older, is flopped before her from the dwindling stack. 

She’s a third of the way through when her door thuds open.

“Breakfast!”

The plate is practically tossed onto her workstation, splattering red syrup over the opened pages.

“Barrel!”

“Whaaaat,” he whines, “You love road-kill pancakes with holly syrup.”

“Not on my books I don’t!” She lifts the plate with one hand before twirling her long, knobby fingers over the page. The sticky liquid lifts, though she can still see where the red has stained the pages with faint lines of pink. “Gran gave me this,” she grumbles before flinging the syrup at him, the majority landing on his ragged apron. He doesn’t even flinch.

“You’re _still_ reading?” Barrel crosses his arms and cocks his head, not seeming to care that he is spreading the gooey syrup across the apron and over his bare forearm. His body reeks of burnt sugar and something else she can’t quite place. It makes her want to sniff him and see if she can figure out why she’s been kicked out of the kitchen for the last few days. 

Shock studies Barrel’s clothes, which look more like the garb of a butcher than that of a ghoul —what with all the red holly syrup staining him like blood— and notes that there is some substance smeared on his upper belly; like he leaned over the counter while it was covered with something. There is also some above his right temple as well, slicking some of the tight, green curls that he keeps cut close to his head. He had once told her it was to make it harder to set it on fire. She doesn’t understand that seeing as hers is well past her shoulders, and _she’s_ never had issues with hers catching on fire. Maybe it’s his height? Barrel is shorter. Or it could be an undead thing. They do seem to be more easily ignitable than most. At least with Barrel there would be quite a bit to burn before it could get to anything vital. 

“You have to have found something.” Barrel cranes his neck to see around the brim of her hat and down at the book. 

“Do you have any idea how many spell books Boogie even owned?” Shock asks.

“Uh…” Barrel looks around her room. The walls are covered in shelves, both in tall bookcases and hammered into the walls. Book after book is shoved into them, each categorized and shelved just the way she likes them, with her own notes and additions sticking out between the pages. 

Barrel motions to the room. “This many?”

“These are _mine_ , Barrel, and the ones Gran and Sandy gave me. Boogie’s are still in the library.”

“Oh...why aren’t yours in the library?”

“Because I don’t want to have to go all the way across the house just to look up a simple incantation,” she huffs. “Besides, they're all mostly duplicates of what I have anyway, except for these.” She motions to the stacks on her desk. The last half dozen or so on the left are unread, the ones to the right read.

“And those?” Barrel points to the ones next to her on the floor.

“Keeping them,” she replies. “Now would you let me get back to work?”

“So, you don’t want breakfast.” Barrel starts to reach for the plate.

With a flick of her hand, Shock has the plate high above their heads. “I didn’t say that.”

Barrel gives her a grin.

She tries to stay cold, really she does, but Barrel’s smile is always contagious, and a smirk manages to slither its way onto her face. 

“Get out of here before I curse you,” she tells him.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” he singsongs but does as she asks. “Oh, and I still need the kitchen,” he adds before racing off.

“But you said you’d be done today!” she yells after him. “Damn it, Barrel, I need the fireplace! Do you hear me you moss-covered tombstone? It’s my turn! I need my cauldron!”

She gets a laugh in return that fades as Barrel heads downstairs. Grumbling to herself, Shock looks back at the book, her plate of food landing near her elbow. Good, he remembered to give her a fork this time. 

“You know, we could just fix the library up to be your new spell room, right?”

Shock’s eyes barely flick to the door. Lock is standing in the threshold, long limbs crossed as he stands in his bedclothes; some tattered shorts that probably belonged to Barrel when they were kids and a threadbare shirt. He brings the smell of a freshly lit match into her room.

“I don’t have _time_ to fix it,” she replies as she looks through a promising spell. It’s for changing paint colors; a form of transmutation done by the elves if they get something wrong. From what she can tell, it won’t change the item at all, just the color. If she changes up some of the wording, trades the earthly properties for those of water, and then adds in the seed of a dying rainbow instead of the glow of Christmas lights…

Beneath them there is a small explosion, knocking dust from Shock’s rafters and onto her hat. It sounds like rain for a moment before she shakes it off of her head.

“I swear, he’s turning more mad scientist by the day.”

“If Finklestein didn’t hate us so much, I bet he’d be thrilled.” Lock gives a yawn and saunters over, or at least tries to. Shock can see the way sleep clings to Lock as his tail barely flicks behind him. He leans over her shoulder, careful of her hat, and curls around her so he can shove his face in her neck. 

“I’m busy, Lock,” she murmurs, her hands already jotting down notes on a roll of parchment. She never adds notes to a book until she knows they’ll work. Nothing worse than having to sift through the failures to find her actual spell updates; especially in her rarer Christmas tomes. Looking back at books from when she was a child still makes her cringe. So many things scratched out.

“Thought you needed the fireplace.” He kisses up her neck, navigating through the thick, greasy strands of hair to find all the skin he can on his way to her ear.

“I do,” she mutters, hand slowing. 

“Then take a break.” His mouth keeps moving, kissing over a small wart on her jawline. 

Shock relents with a sigh and leans back. Lock’s mouth is warm against hers, and his lips are gentle as he coaxes her to put her arms in her lap and let him kiss along her long, sharp nose. Shock closes her eyes and relaxes against her chair.

“It’s not going to be my fault if I don’t finish in time, you know,” she murmurs as he moves back to her neck. 

His mouth disappears for a moment, his hand brushing aside some of her hair, before returning to her throat. Lock’s mouth feels slightly sticky.

Shock peeks her eye open as he pulls away again, and watches a bite of her breakfast dart to his mouth.

“Hey! Those are mine!” She goes to grab for the plate, but Lock sweeps it up and sprints out the door.

“Thanks for the treat!” he calls around a mouth full of food.

“I’m going to curse both of you! You’ll have weeds growing out of your ears for days!”

Shock flops back, arms crossed and eyes glaring at her book. The spell notes next to it are practically complete. She slides the notes over the page and snaps the book shut; gold-leaf stands out stark over red leather: _A Beginner’s Guide to Holiday Decorating_. 

”I don’t care what that idiot says; I am using the kitchen today.” She picks up the book and heads out of her room, barefoot, and walks downstairs. Her stomach rumbles. Hopefully there are still some roadkill-pancakes left. If not, then Lock will have weeds popping out of ass as well as his ears. She saw a spell about non-melting frost a few pages before the color spell, that could be a fun trick to pull on the hothead.

She makes a mental note to give it a try.

\-------------

The kitchen is just slightly too warm, but with pancakes in hand, Shock is content enough not to care. She’s sure it’ll cool down some soon; it’s always like this after Barrel cooks; something about the stove needing twice the wood.

“So when can I have the fireplace?” She’s almost done with the cakes, these ones covered with much more syrup than the ones Lock pilfered. She’ll never outright admit it, but Barrel’s cooking is probably the only reason she even has hips.

“It’s almost done,” Barrel says excitedly as he dumps the dishes into the bug-scrubber. They swarm, going to work eating off the caked on food. “Wanna see.” He doesn’t give Shock much of a choice as he pulls her to the hearth. It smells heavily of coconut. So that’s what she had smelled on him earlier.

“This...this is it?” Shock looks down at the black, bubbling glop.

“Yep!” Barrel beams up at her, hands on his hips. 

“The trick is...tar?”

Barrel’s face drops into an annoyed scowl. “No, of course not! We already did the tar and feather thing. This-” he motions to the cauldron, “is going to give everyone a sunkissed tan with a shimmer of glitter.”

Shock jerks back from the cauldron, keeping her plate well away from it. Her eyes dart to what is on Barrel’s smock and squints. It just looks...black.

“You’re not messing with me, are you?” Still, she stays a few steps away; eating carefully with her eyes on him. Best to be wary in case he tries to splash her.

“Nope.” He points to the spot on his forehead where the glob from earlier had been. Just beneath the hairline, the skin has a healthy, warm hue and shimmers gently in the light.

“Holy Hecate, that is awful,” she murmurs as she drops her empty plate into the swarm of insects. A few smaller ones stick in the syrup, left to eat their way out of their sticky mess. 

“I know! All we have to do is feed this into the fountain, then, during the parade, up the pressure so that it sprays all over everyone!” His grin is so wide it looks like his head might just break in half. “Oh! And I’m going to put these around too.” He pulls over a pumpkin and angles it so she can look inside. There is a small device set into it that she doesn’t quite recognize.

“Is that what shook the house earlier?”

“Yep!” He puts the pumpkin back. “It’s a mini cannon! We’ll mix them in with the decorations so that even people far away get hit.”

“Makes sense,” she says with an approving nod. “But why the hell am I looking for a color changing spell if we can pass it off as tar?”

Barrel gives a long-suffering sigh like it’s the most obvious thing, “Becaaaaaaaause Lagoona would notice it the second we put it in the water. We need it to be at least green to slip it past her. We keep it black and she’ll know something's up.”

“Okay, good point. Remember when we tried to slip in the, oh what were those called,” she snaps her fingers together, “Pengins, pongons-” 

“Penguins!” Barrel’s face explodes into a smile. 

“Yeah, those. The rain slicking spell would have been so much funnier with those little things bumping around and sliding into everyone.”

“I still wish Gran would have let us have one.” Barrel looks wistfully at the fridge. There is a black and white photo of his head sticking out of a snowdrift, a rather confused looking penguin attempting to sit on his head as Lock and Shock chase Santa in the background; there is a massive snowball hovering above him.

“Focus,” Shock says as she snaps her fingers in front of him. “How are we setting it up?”

“That’s Lock’s job, duh. I mean, I can up the fountain pressure and all that, but he’s still figuring out the details on getting us to the controls, and Beau said he’d help me set up the cannons!”

Shock pulls a slight face. Beauregard the winged demon is still an odd subject. He was a kid with them, but like most of the other children in Halloween Town, they hadn’t spent much time with him. Now, however, he’s been appearing around their haunt more and more, and while she doesn’t mind him, Barrel has been incorporating him into their business as of late. Sometimes it’s alright, seeing as it’s nice to have someone else who can fly helping them out now and then, and with his limbs having caught up with his wings, he can carry quite a bit both in his hands and clawed feet in comparison to what Shock can suspend from her broom. He’d been a spindly thing when Shock had met him properly, his wings still taking most of his weight, though since he’s started hanging around Barrel, he’s been getting a little larger. With how much he flies Barrel around it only makes sense that he’s starting to gain a little muscle; Barrel’s cooking has probably been helping as well.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” she asks him, arms crossed. “What if he gives us away?”

“Oh, he won’t.” Barrel beams. “And even if he did accidentally let something slip, I told him they were spider cannons, like the ones Finkelstein made last year, but that we were putting fire ants in them. I told him if he helps, we’ll keep him from getting bit too much. He doesn’t know about the tanner at all.”

“And you think he’ll keep the cannons under wraps?” She fixes him with a wary look.

“Of course! He hasn’t given away anything else I’ve told him. He’s really good at keeping secrets!”

She narrows her eyes. “What else have you told him?”

“Noooooot telling.” Barrel grins at her before bouncing and patting his hands together. “Ooooh, I can’t wait to see Beau’s face when we see old bleach-bones looking like he’s made out of bronze.”

Shock shakes her head but lets the subject change.

“You know the vampires are going to hate this the most, right?” Shock says it with a smile.

Barrel grins back. “Oh, I know. Payback for ruining the first half of the prank last year.”

“Yeah. I worked on that bleaching spell for weeks. I still don’t get how they figured out the taffy was jinxed. They don’t even _eat_ candy.” 

Barrel shrugs.

Shock settles back against the side of the counter. “So how long until I can get to work on my bit?” She glances at the book with her possible spell in it. 

“Gotta wait another hour; let the glittery stuff really bond with the tanning agent. Won’t be as annoying if there are only shiny patches.”

“Fiiiiine,” Shock sighs in mock annoyance. “Guess I’ll go see what Lock is thinking up. See if we’ll need anything else.”

“Good idea! Got anything for invisibility?”

“Only if I want to go ingredient hunting in one of the other Holiday lands, and even then it might take too long. Getting through the doors without a pass is getting harder.”

“Maybe you could become a cat!”

“And have you shave me again, no.” Shock starts to head out of the kitchen.

“Aw, come on, that was one time!”

“One is enough,” she calls back. “I had a bald spot for months!” At the door, she pauses. “Wait...is that _my_ cauldron you’re using?” She squints at the fireplace. All of Barrel’s are iron, but for spells she uses pewter. 

“Heheh...maybe.” He shuffles in front of it, his bulk doing little to hide the wide cauldron. Barrel ends up dropping his eyes under her glare. “Mine wasn’t big enough, and Tub won’t let me use them. I think they’re still mad about the taffy.”

“I thought they liked getting bleached.”

“Yeah, but I guess we gummed up their plumbing.” He kicks at the ground.

“Doesn’t mean you get to use my cauldrons.”

Barrel gives her a week, apologetic smile; body looking ready to bolt.

Shock stares a few moments longer. “You’re lucky you made me breakfast,” she grumbles before turning away and heading towards the stairs.

“I’ll clean it! Promise!”

“Oh I know you will, or you’ll be the one who gets shaved,” she yells back. She smiles to herself. A little sleeping-draught, shears, and that wouldn’t be a half-bad trick.

Shock heads up the stairs and down the hall past her room. She doesn’t bother knocking on Lock’s door; he never does on hers.

He’s leaning over a tall desk, dressed in the usual old dark pants and red shirt he’d taken to wearing a few years ago. His eyes skim over some sort of map, and he scribbles something over it. The twitch of his tail is the only thing that acknowledges her presence.

“Barrel showed me what we’re doing,” she says as she walks over and glances at the scattered papers. “You’ve got your work cut out for ya.”

“Nah. Pretty sure we can use the plan from the lemonade trick a few years back.” He runs a hand through his hair, fingers sliding between his two goat-like horns that had grown in during their early teens. “What about you? Any headway with swapping the color?”

“If I could ever use the kitchen I might make some,” she grumbles. The brim of her hat bends up as she pushes her forehead to Lock’s back and pokes at his spine with her sharp nose. He’s warm, not as warm as he is after he sleeps, but warm enough that it sends little tingles through her. Sometimes, when he gets warm enough, he’ll make her skin itch.

She always makes him scratch it after.

“Until that stuff downstairs is done, I’m stuck waiting, unless you need anything for the sneaking in.”

“Invisi-”

“Nope,” she cuts in. “If you wanted that you should have told me back during Spring. I would have gotten some more egg shells. All the easter hens are on Holiday for another month, and I am NOT sneaking into the Easter Bunny’s burrow again.”

Lock winces. “Yeah, you’d think being startled awake like that would send someone running. I think I still have a paw print somewhere on my ass.” He rubs just above his right butt cheek as he thinks. “Can’t you just mumble something and change the color?”

Shock guffaws at him. “Yeah, and then halfway through I’ll pass out from overexertion.”

“Aw, come on, you turned your hair pink for a whole day last week.”

“We do not talk about that,” she grumbles.

“Told you not to take that bet with Barrel.”

Shock digs her nose into his back and makes him wiggle a little.

“It has to be a potion,” she mumbles. “Trying to keep that goo green while it’s spread out in the water is too much to handle for a few hours. Maybe a few minutes, but it’s too big for just a spell.”

Lock gives a hum of understanding. 

“Is there anything else we need?” She asks, plucking at a tattered edge of his shirt.

“We need something to transport the tanning stuff in, preferably small so we don’t get noticed. But it has to hold _all_ of it.”

“A bottomless vial,” Shock murmurs. “I think I have one already made, actually.” She pops off her hat and looks inside. Her cupboard in the kitchen, glowing with silkworms, shows a few up on the top shelf. “Yep.” She puts her hat back on. “I might need to refresh the charm, make sure it is actually bottomless, but that won’t take long. Anything else?”

“I could use some help letting off some steam.” Lock’s tail twitches behind him.

Shock raises a brow. “Uh-huh. I bet you could. Stolen breakfasts always make you gassy.”

“Hey!”

Shock crosses her arms. “If anything, you should be making that up to me.”

“Oh should I?” he asks as he turns to look at her.

She reaches up and flicks one of his horns, making him twitch. “Yep.”

Lock grins and licks his teeth. “Okay, just let me finish something. I’ll be quick, promise.”

He turns back to the map, his pencil scrawling quickly. Shock watches his tail flick wildly in the air, betraying his excitement even if he is keeping the rest of himself generally calm. Shock presses up behind him and makes sure to catch his tail between the two of them; gently crushing it into his back and her chest and belly.

“What kind of monster makes someone wait for their apology?” Shock pouts.

“One that knows it’ll be worth the wait.” Lock drags his tail between them, pulling it down between her slight breasts and over her belly before it slides back up under her dress. The tip glides up the inside of her thigh, pushing against her bare skin and tickling just a few inches below her groin.

“See, I never trust a promise made by a demon’s tongue.” She dances her fingers over his hips. “You can never be sure they’ll make good on their promise until they _do_ it.”

“You’ve always trusted my tongue before,” Lock murmurs as the tail slides up a bit, flicking over her labia before pressing up along them; the spade-like tip not slipping inside, but rubbing against her.

“Y-yeah, because it’s made good on its deals at some point.” A tremor slips from her, and she curses silently. He’s going to win if she doesn’t pull it together.

“And you don’t think it’ll make good now?” He looks over his shoulder and lets his tongue flick out, split and snake-like. 

“Well, seeing as you’re gabbing away with it, no.”

The tail squirms, sliding up to pulse against her clit. Shock locks her knees. He’s playing dirty, just like he had with the pancakes. She flicks her wrist and watches his eyes widen.

“What’s wrong? Getting antsy?” There are no actual ants in his pants, but the spell makes it feel like it. A skittering that runs up and down his cock and balls to tease him without a hint of her cool fingers. 

Lock’s eyes narrow as his tail stutters a little against her. It swirls just inside her lips, spreading moisture and stimulating her enough to make her want more. 

“Cheater.” Lock’s voice is deep and slightly breathy. His hips squirm against her stomach, and his tail’s rhythm is a stuttering dance.

“And your tail isn’t cheating?” She flicks her wrist again, sending the imaginary ants dancing over the base of Lock’s back and the root of his tail. They slide down between the cheeks of his ass, over his taint, and join those stimulating his balls. The tail jerks against her, but not in. Shock swallows any sound of annoyance that tries to escape her and smiles instead.

“Besides,” she murmurs into his back. “I’m not the one needing to let off steam.” Her pinky twitches, the spell ends, and Shock steps back far enough that Lock’s tail is forced to leave a damp trail down her thigh and slip out from beneath her dress.

“Come find me when you’re ready to put that tongue to work. I have a charm to work on.” She turns to leave, a grin on her face. Shock expects the greedy hands that grab her hard around her hips. 

“Oh, I’m ready.”

“But I have things to do.” She sweeps her hands out, and magic forces Lock’s hands to release her.

“Are you kidding me?” Lock pleas.

“Oh don’t be a sore loser.” Shock heads for the door. 

“With how wet you are, leaving now means we both lose.”

Shock snorts. “Yeah, because I don’t have other broomsticks I can ride.”

“Seriously?” his voice is a whine.

“Maybe next time you’ll make good on your promise a little quicker.” She steps out the door, pauses, and then pops her head back in. Lock is leaning against his desk with his hands on the hem of his pants.

“Don’t you have work to do?” She snaps and the zipper shoots back up, making Lock yelp as it catches on one of his fingers. The button on the dark pants closes back up, and Lock snarls as he tugs at the now impenetrable fabric.

“I swear, I am going to-”

“Ah-ah. Don’t swear unless you mean it.” Shock waggles a finger at him.

Lock’s eyes glow gold as his sneer becomes a rather scary smirk, “I swear I’m going to make you scream loud enough to shake the bats from the belfry.”

Shock feels her groin ache but keeps her face passive. “I’ll believe it when you do it. Like I said, can’t trust a devil’s tongue.” Shock doesn’t give him a chance to reply as she quickly heads downstairs. 

“Score?” Shock asks Barrel as she walks into the kitchen.

“With that look, I think you’re winning by three now,” he tells her with a grin.

She takes the high-five he offers and goes to her casting cupboard. She has a vial to fix up after all.


	2. Smoke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so much fun with everyone's characterization in this one.

“Oh, damn it,” Shock mumbles as she looks down at the cauldron. The potion is right, she knows it is, but she just can’t get the damn color correct. It either turns out too blue or too teal. She’s tried adding wilted leaves with crushed sea glass, but that just turned it a strange orangish-green; not the color she needs. 

“Stupid Christmas magic, not everything has to be vibrant.”

There is a bang above here. She glances up and listens to rushed footsteps that fade as they move towards the stairs. 

Shock shrugs it off and goes back to work. If she can get this figured out today, then they can make some practice devices for later. Barrel would probably enjoy that. Maybe they could sneak out to Christmas Town, it’s not like they didn’t go over there often, and Gran —Mrs. Clause to the rest of Halloween Town— would be happy to see them. Speaking of Gran...

“That’s it!” Shock heads to a different cabinet. This one is filled with ingredients from all the different towns, and up in the right she finds what she is looking for. 

“Hello, holly.” She plucks down the dried leaves and grins. 

“Shock.”

Shock doesn’t turn towards Lock’s voice, her eyes busy trying to figure out if the colors she has mixed this time will work.

“Busy.”

“Shock, undo my pants, now,” Lock growls from behind her. His tail wraps around her waist and tugs her back while his hands spin her.

“What about ‘I’m busy’ do you not get?” she snaps.

“Shock,” he hisses as he bounces slightly, his knees turned in towards each other. Wait…

“Oh!” Her hands flutter, removing the spell. “Go!”

Lock takes off towards the downstairs bathroom.

“Idiot,” she mumbles before turning back to the cauldron. She drops in a drop of pure water, resetting the color. The pigment won’t become permanent until she sets it, but damn it, each mess up makes it less potent. Good thing this is a test batch. She hates wasting ingredients, but better to do it small first than waste an entire cauldron. Her mini cauldron sits above a small flame on the stove, bubbling the clear liquid.

The color dump goes in; it's a mixture of browns, greens, and blues. She gets something resembling sewage. Closer.

“Maybe if I—” Shock sprinkles in a little ground up glass, giving the color a little more of a reflective look. It brightens the potion, makes it a bit more opaque, and she grins. Carefully, she raises a droplet of the potion and moves it to a bowl of Barrel’s concoction. The single drop only lightens the black by a smidgen. 

“Hmmm…” Shock levitates the cauldron and starts to pour. She knows how much liquid is in the elixir, at least roughly. With each addition, the color of the tanning solution lightens. It isn’t until half of her mixture is added that the black goo looks like the potion she has created.

“There,” she mutters as she jots down her findings. “Probably won’t need as much since I thinned it out, but this should do it.” 

The sharp slap of footsteps greets her ears as she makes a record of the colors she had used. Shock ignores them.

“Can we make a rule to _not_ make my pants impenetrable?” 

Shock doesn’t have to look up to know that Lock is glowering at her.

“You know we’ll just break it,” she replies. “Like the one about you _not_ using your tail. Pretty sure we made that a rule a while back.”

“Oh come on. You have crazy powers; I just have this.” Lock waves his tail off to his side, motioning to it with both hands. “You can’t tell me not to use it when there isn’t even a demon who could create a tight enough contract to keep you from using your powers on me.”

“Exactly, so no rule about making impenetrable pants.” She gives him a wink. “Though, next time, let me know when you need to use the bathroom sooner. Nothing like pissing yourself to kill the mood.”

“My _mood_ was thoroughly killed an hour ago when I couldn’t get a hand in my pants.”

“Did not need to know that,” Barrel says as he walks into the kitchen. Lock raises his eyes skyward, grits his teeth, and holds out his hands into curled claws. Shock can smell the sulfur roll off of him as Barrel side steps. 

“How goes it?” Barrel asks as Lock stands seething behind him. Shock gives Lock a smirk before turning to the bowl.

“I don’t know, you tell me?” She motions to the bowl of enchanted tanner.

“Hey, that looks pretty good! What did you use?” Barrel sticks his finger straight into his own tanning stuff. The second he does, he pauses. “This isn’t the color changing elixir...is it…”

“Nope.”

Barrel sighs and pulls out his finger. With a flick, the excess flies off and exposes a perfectly tanned finger beneath.

“Damn it,” he mumbles.

“What gets rid of this stuff anyway?” Shock scooches back from Barrel. There is a very good chance of him trying to touch her with his still somewhat goopy finger. 

“You just have to take a dirt bath,” he replies as he wipes his finger on his apron. “I mean, you have to scrub a little, but it’ll go away. Either that or just wait for it to rub off on its own.”

“Fascinating,” Lock bites out behind them. 

Barrel looks at him with a raised eyebrow. “You might want to help him let off some steam,” he tells Shock. “He’s going to start setting the floorboards on fire again.”

“I did that ONCE!” Beneath Lock, smoke starts to trickle up from the floor.

“Once and a half now,” Barrel replies with a grin.

“Why don’t you go bother the winged wonder,” Lock hisses. 

“Don’t call Beau that,” Barrel says with a frown. “He doesn’t like it.”

“Aw, what’s wrong? That demon’s like ninety percent wings, it fits,” Lock teases.

“No, he was ninety percent wings when we were kids. Now it’s like fifty-fifty,” Barrel replies as he opens a cabinet, rustling around in it for something. 

“Point?”

Barrel just glares over his shoulder, “I don’t know, Pox, what do you think?”

Lock bristles at the old nickname. The acne that had plagued him a few years ago hadn’t been horrible by any means, but with how warm he was, the pustules would sometimes burst like a pox. It had gotten him a nickname that some in town still use.

“Are you going to leave already, or do you want to watch?” Lock snarls.

Barrel pulls a face, “Ew, no, I’m good.” He pulls out a couple of cakes.

“Who says we’re doing anything in here?” Shock asks, her arms crossed as she smirks at Lock. 

Actual flames start licking around Lock’s feet as he rounds on her, teeth bared.

“Whoa, hey, look. Now he’s set the floor on fire two ti— Okay I’m going!” Barrel ducks passed the heated glare that Lock shoots at him. “I’ll be upstairs in the belfry! Beau is dropping by, so try to keep it down,” he pleads.

“If he hears it’s his own damn fault with those ears,” Lock hisses as he turns his eyes on Shock.

Barrel sighs in annoyance but says nothing before disappearing. 

“You’re serious. You want to do this in here?”

“This is where you are, so yes.”

“I could just—” Shock doesn’t get the rest of her quip out. The tail around her waist tugs her in, and Lock’s mouth seals over hers with almost searing heat. With a hard shove at his chest, she gets him to pull back.

“Careful, you’re going to give me blisters,” she hisses. 

“Then do something about it,” he growls and kisses her again. It’s hard to keep a cooling spell going around herself when she’s suddenly having her mouth assaulted by a split tongue, but it clings to her skin and keeps the heat from doing any actual damage. Instead, it just riles her up and makes her skin itch. Lock’s hands are much too stationary around her hips.

Shock is the first to dig her nails into skin, spurring Lock’s hands to move, even if it’s just to grip at her wrists. 

“Watch it,” he snarls. 

“Do something about it,” she mocks back. He pushes her back against the counter, hands sliding down to her buttocks, and lifts. Shock gives a small squeak, more from being suddenly weightless than actual surprise, but it turns into a grunt when he unceremoniously drops her onto the counter. 

“Ow,” she grumbles.

“Sorry.” It comes out as a grunt as he kisses down her neck. 

Shock drops her head back, her hat still tightly in place, while Lock’s hands paw up the inside of her thighs, pushing back her dress. She’s just about to say something about foreplay when his mouth unlatches from where it had been sucking a bruise into her skin, and he drops to his knees. Hot breath ghosts over her inner thighs.

She’s panting through her nose; an eyebrow cocked at him.

“Gotta put this tongue to work,” he says as he spreads her wider. “That was the deal, wasn’t it?”

“I think there was also something about bats in the belfry,” she adds, doing her best to keep her tone bored. 

Lock’s grin is predatory before his face disappears between her thighs; his head eclipsed by her dress as it pools around his horns. 

Shock’s eyes flutter as he licks along her outer lips, tongues split so that he doesn’t actually ghost over her opening. Both of his clawed hands press into her thighs, going between massaging and leaving small, stinging welts that barely detract from the tingling heat of Lock’s tongue. The two tongues mirror one another, laving over her labia and pressing on the sides of her clit. He sucks it between his teeth, threatening, but with only the pressure and two tongues dancing over it, there is no fear of his teeth and only euphoria. She bites down on her palm.

Her hand tastes earthy between her teeth, and Shock focusses on it. She will not mewl this early. To give him that satisfaction would be humiliating, and it’s going to take more than just a few licks to get her to let her voice ring. Belfry, ha, he’ll be lucky if the bats in the kitchen hear her. She is going to hold in every sound until...until...aw hell.

“Hnnn…” the sounds sits heavy in her throat as his tongue slides out between his lips, on either side of the clit between his teeth, and wiggles. There isn’t any real rhythm to the movement, but it lets him cover more of her sensitive skin while also providing sensation and suction.

Shock can feel the corners of his mouth turn up at the sounds that escape her, and grits her teeth tight over her knuckles. It does very little to stop the noises in her throat and chest as he pulls away from her clit and begins to lap and suck at her lips; smearing moisture over her inner thighs as he slowly nibbles inwardly until his tongue finally teases into her. It isn’t much, just a twitch, but her hips rock up for it to continue.

“Make some noise for me,” he breathes against her. “I know you're using something to stay quiet.”

“I d-don’t cheahhh!” She slaps her hand over her mouth as that damned tongue slides into her at a piston’s pace. It isn’t wide, but it is warm, and he knows her inner curves well enough that he can start unraveling her with a few sure licks, along with a few teasing ones. 

His hands push bare bruises into her thighs as he seals his mouth over her and flicks his tongue. Lock uses his lips more for friction than anything else, constantly rubbing them against her in opened mouth kisses while his tongue spreads apart inside her. 

Shock’s hips rock up again, her head thrown back, and the hat falls. If not for the hands on her thighs, she would have her legs tight around his skull. Instead, the best she can do is drive her heels into his shoulder blades while grasping at the kitchen counter. Her arms shake as she tries to keep herself upright, and not braining herself on a cabinet. The threat means little as Lock does his damndest to make good on his promise of making her scream as he drags his tongues in and out of her, keeping them spread, and changing the way they enter and exit each time. 

Then Lock pulls a dirty trick; a horrible, delicious trick as he drags his sharp teeth over her swollen clit as the tongues inside her strike upwards.

“Lock!” The shout echoes through the kitchen as her legs manage to tighten some, wrapping around his face as her hands scramble for better purchase. She goes to reposition one arm and hisses as she touches something hot. Very hot. So hot that she jerks back. 

A moment later she hears something shatter and Lock jerks away from her.

“The fu- DAMN IT!” He springs upwards flicking the greenish ooze from his pants while Shock growls in frustration.

“Get back down there!” she snaps, but Lock is a little too preoccupied. He’s scrubbing at his arm with his other hand, which in turn is turning a bright, healthy bronze.

“Oh no.” Shock looks over at where her test batch was sitting.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Lock stops rubbing, realizing it is doing nothing to rid himself of the gunk.

“I knew doing this in the kitchen was a bad idea,” she bites out in frustration. Her clit throbs as she presses her thighs together, trying to lessen the ache.

“Then why didn’t you say something?”

“I did!”

“No you didn’t!” His eyes blaze, steam escapes his mouth, and suddenly flames erupt over Lock’s entire left side; everywhere the goo had touched blazes into teal flames before quickly going out. Shock sits on the island counter, eyes wide as Lock stares down at his now very ruined shirt and half a pair of pants.

“BARREL!” he roars as he stomps over to the shrunken head on the wall. “BARREL!” he yells again, this time into the things ear. His voice is heard throughout the house.

“Whaaaaat?” comes whining out of the mouth followed by a mumbled, “No you can have the other half, Beau.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this shit is flammable?”

“It is?” the shrunken head asks.

“What’s going on?” comes faintly through the mouth.

“None of your business, Wings!” 

“Hey! What did I say about calling Boo that!”

“BOO!" Lock screeches. "You’re calling him BOO now?”

Shock sits back on the counter and thunks her head against the cabinet as she listens to the two bicker. 

Looks like she’s going to need to pull out a broomstick after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I have a thing for writing characters with split tongues? Yes. Yes, I do.


	3. Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where most of the NSFW warnings kick in. Enjoy!
> 
> Now with some awesome artwork by [Nasubionnas](https://twitter.com/nasubionnas/status/1124557196589785088)!

It turns out glitter can be flammable. VERY flammable depending on the kind, and while it ended up being a form of cock-block to Shock, she finds it hilarious that the chemist out of the three of them had no idea.

“This is going to take forever,” Barrel grumbles as he mixes in the bags of glitter. The new batch of tanner is bubbling away —still in Shock’s largest cauldron— with the new brand. The old tanner has since been placed in a never-ending bottle with a flame warning on the side. After they finish the trick, they plan on taking it to Christmas Town where they’re sure the elves will enjoy it and be less likely to light themselves on fire. Either that or Sandy Claws can come up with a fire-retardant Christmas charm or something. Shock had thought about that herself for the first batch, but she was too worried about something going wrong or it not being strong enough. Tricks aren’t supposed to kill or maim after all; that’s never funny. 

“Stop complaining. Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is to try and get a bed pass this close to Halloween?” Shock snaps. “I waited in line for hours, hours! And then that one-eyed hag almost didn’t give it to me because she figured I was ‘up to something’. Told her you had run out of allspice.”

“Well, I mean...” Barrel trails off as he looks at his cabinets. 

“It’s in the cupboard,” Shock snaps. “And that, THAT was the easy bit! It took three houses before I even found any glitter; six for something non-flammable.” She jerks her thumb towards the empty glitter bags on the counter. All of them have a non-flammable sticker on them.

Barrel pouts as he stirs, looking down into the sludge. “Thanks,” he says after a little while. “I’ll make you a spider-silk pie.”

The offer perks Shock up considerably. “No cobwebs, only fresh?” she half asks half demands.

“No cobwebs,” Barrel sighs. “Don’t know when I’ll get the chance to make it, but I’ll go to the spider’s nest next chance I get and figure out something to trade.”

“You could always do some of your Christmas taffy. I know you still have some hoarded away somewhere.”

Barrel hums in agreement, spoon swirling as he focuses on his goop.

Shock turns away from him and focuses on her own small cauldron where her color changing elixir is bubbling. It is a mossy brown, made so with the strange, fake grass she had found when searching for the glitter. It had been plastered over some sort of miniature landscape with a whole bag shoved in the corner. She had helped herself, shoving a handful through her hat before startling a woman awake while disappearing none-too quietly beneath her bed.

“Did you have to stir it this much last time?” she asks over her shoulder as she tests her color changer on a small bowl of cream. Immediately, it leaches into the white and spreads, eating away at it until it is all the same muddy color. It’s good, but maybe she can thin the color somehow; make it more opaque.

“Yeeeeeees,” he whines behind her. “Stir it for an hour, then let it rest, then again. Makes sure the glitter doesn’t just sift to the bottom.”

Shock sighs before flicking her hand. Barrel gives a surprised squawk as the large spoon jerks from his grip and starts going in a circle on its own.

“Thanks!”

“I want curdled cream on top,” she says, referring to the pie.

Barrel beams. “Can’t have spider-silk without the cream!” he shoots back without missing a beat.

Shock stares at her mixture while Barrel goes to put things away.

“Lock still out?” she asks after a while.

“Yep, scoping out everything. You know him; if he doesn’t walk a trick five times, he’ll be nothing but a pain in the ass the entire time.”

“I know,” Shock sighs. “Thank god he’s getting it out of the way early this year. I swear, if the Vamps hadn’t given us away last time, he sure as hell would have, what with all his pacing.” From down the hall, she hears a door open carefully followed by the absence of feet. She smirks.

“Doesn’t mean he’s not going to do it at least three more times,” Barrel huffs.

“I’m going to do what three more times?” Lock asks from the doorway.

Barrel proceeds to jumble up his spice rack in surprise as Shock looks up at Lock and says in her best deadpan, “Disappoint me.” She can only keep the smirk off her face for a second before it creeps into place. Watching Lock’s ears go bright red has no right to be as endearing as it is. 

“Hey, you caused the first time, and Barrel lit me on fire the second.”

“Noooo, you lit yourself on fire,” Barrel says as he puts his stuff away, the new bottle of Allspice included. “It being combustible was not planned.”

“Then that means you didn’t test it well enough,” Lock shoots back.

“It’s GLITTER! Who ever heard of exploding GLITTER!”

“Doesn’t that happen on New Years?” Shock asks, keeping her tone bored as she puts a drop of anti-lixer into the cream, returning it to its clean white. 

“No, that explodes out of stuff,” Lock responds as he wraps his arms around her waist and pushes his sharp chin into her shoulder. He is a warm line all the way down her back, pushing her forward slightly as he forces her to take most of his weight.

“How’d the route look?” she asks him as she adds water to the elixir, making sure to keep her mental intent as thinning and not reverting the color. She drips until she can barely see the bottom of the cauldron. 

“Fine,” Lock replies with a yawn, sinking against her a little more. “Made sure to go walk around the graveyard and over near city hall too. I swear the coven has a crow on every lamp post now.”

“Don’t worry; they’re just looking for suspicious activity,” Shock murmurs, a sly smile on her lips as she looks at Lock out of the corner of her eye. “As long as you weren’t doing anything _suspicious_ we have nothing to worry about.”

He gives her a long-suffering glare before heaving a sigh and settling against her back as if he could fall asleep that way. 

“You really did go for a long walk,” she says as she feels him relax. 

“Mmmmhmmm,” he hums. 

“Then we’ll be fine,” Barrel says as he takes off his smock. There are flecks of tanner all over him. “They won’t have a clue it’s coming with you walking all over town. I bet they think we’ll end up going somewhere you didn’t even go. Gotta keep ‘em on their toes!” Barrel stretches, and Shock hears a little choir of cracks as his spine re-aligns.

“I’mma go soak in a mud puddle for a while and get this stuff off.” Barrel looks down at his very brown and shimmery hands. “I set a timer for the stirring, Shock. Would you mind stopping the spoon when it goes off?”

“Can do,” she replies as Barrel heads out of the kitchen. “What about when it needs to start again?” 

“I won’t be gone _that_ long,” Barrel replies. 

“See, you say that,” Lock yawns, “But when it comes to mud—”

“Shut uuuuuuuup,” Barrel groans before walking out the back door.

“Think he’ll actually show up before it needs to be stirred again?” Shock grumbles.

“Probably not. Saw his ‘Boo’ on his way over; never know how long Barrel’ll be when he shows up.” Lock sulks against her back. “Think they actually have something going on?” he asks her. Shock shrugs as she drips another drop of color into the cream. 

“Is it any of our business?” she asks as the color spreads, becoming murky and opaque.

“He’s our best friend, of course it’s our bu— Woah, that looks perfect.” Lock pushes forward so he can see better. It forces her to bend, but not painfully so, and Shock smiles a little.

“Were you worried I wouldn’t be able to pull it off?”

“Nope, never afraid of that,” he replies as he pushes a little kiss to her neck. “Just never know how wicked your work is going to be until it’s finished.”

“And this time?” She puts a top on the small cauldron and extinguishes the flame. She has her elixir.

Lock smiles into her neck, “I’d say it’s pretty damn wicked.” 

A little giggle tickles up her throat along with Lock’s mouth as small kisses make their way to her ear. 

“Not so tired anymore, are you,” she chides as she feels a growing hardness against her lower back.

“Hey, gotta make up all those disappointments don’t I?”

“Uh-huh,” she replies curtly as she turns in his arms. Lock goes to kiss her, but her finger is waiting to push against his mouth. “Well, I think you should lay down. Don’t want to wear yourself out.”

He gives her a confused, slightly sleepy look before she flicks her wrist. Lock’s eyes go wide as he flies up into the air before coming down with a soft thud onto the kitchen island. The impact is only enough to have him give a soft ‘oof’ and nothing more.

“This what you think relaxing is?” Lock deadpans as she walks in between his legs.

“It gets you off your feet.” She reaches up to the clasp of his pants. “And that’s what really aches right now, right?” Her teasing tone makes his eyes glow softly as she undoes his pants. His boxer-briefs are already tented, and she is looking forward to making the cloth stand a bit taller.

Lock tries to wiggle, attempting to help her get his pants down quicker, but she keeps the enchantment in place. It’s a bit distracting, having to hold him down and also focus on getting his clothing off —not to mention keeping the spoon going—, but it is worth it. A rumpled, twitching Lock is so much more fun than when he’s trying to be all suave. And it is so easy to do; when she wants to do it.

“Come on,” he pleads. “Let me up.”

“But you were so tired a moment ago.” She pulls his pants and underwear down past his knees, which are bent over the side of the island. “Why don’t you just relax.” She forces his head back with a flick of her pinky while tossing his pants to the side. His pale thighs jump under her hands as she stares down at him. Shock has seen his cock plenty, but it’s always fun to study it and make him squirm. He’s just long enough that some positions aren’t as much fun as others, but usually, he can’t get deep enough to hurt her. The head swells beneath his foreskin, already shiny with pre-cum. She taps it, swirls her forefinger over the slit, and pulls back to watch a thin line of fluid connect to her finger.

“You’re such a bitch,” he pants as she keeps teasing, her finger sliding around the head and slipping down to trace along his fernum and the few ridges that appear as his cock fills to its full size. 

“I could just leave you here like this you know,” she tells him as she wraps her long fingers around him, squeezing just a little harder than needed. It makes Lock groan and thrash as he tries to lift his hips. They stay welded down to the wood of the island.

“You wouldn’t,” he pants. 

Shock lets go, “Oh wouldn’t I?”

She turns from him and begins to pick up the kitchen. 

“Shock, I swear to f—” his mouth snaps shut, another layer of control as she goes about picking things up. Angry, begging tones fill the kitchen as she works. There isn’t much, Barrel already having done the bulk, but that makes it even better. Lock can only turn his head and watch as she bottles her elixir in the never-ending vial. As soon as she finishes, she pretends to dust off some containers, rearranges a few spices, and mostly just putters around the kitchen.

She glances at his tail now and again —the only thing she doesn’t have pressed down— to make sure he hasn’t tried to knot it. It’s not the most comfortable thing for him, but it is the one thing he knows to do if she ever does something that really does make him hurt. Thankfully, it is just thrashing next to him, though his whines and groans have gotten more pathetic as she walks past him without touching him. He is fully hard, cock heavy against his belly and staining the hem of his shirt as he dribbles onto himself.

“There,” she says as she straightens a cauldron. “Maybe I should go clean my room…”

She trails off for effect only, and it gets her the mostly lovely closed mouth sobs. 

“Alright, alright,” she says as she comes back. “If you’re really that desperate.”

Lock tries to glare at her for that, flicking his tail at her and smacking at her thigh when she gets close. His face can’t hold any heat to it, though, not when she wraps a hand around him and starts to pump him slowly. His eyes roll back in his head, and Lock shudders beneath her.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to disappoint me again,” she pouts as she slows her stroking. That seems to snap him out of it as he quickly shakes his head, visibly steeling himself against the pleasure. 

“There we go. Now watch yourself, or I’ll have to hang you.” She winks as she makes a motion like pulling on a rope. The invisible tether goes tight around Lock’s cock for a second before she lets go. 

Lock pants through his nose as she pats his thigh. Shock drops the gag spell.

“For the love of Hecate, or whatever the fuck it is you say, come _on_ ,” he growls. 

“Well will you look at that, you do pay attention to me.” She smirks as she touches the tip of her forefinger to her thumb and hovers it over the top of Lock’s cock. The space fills with a shimmer of deep, shiny black before she pulls it over his dick. She pulses her fingers as she goes down, both to make him feel good and to add ribbing to the magical condom. 

“Oh, fuck,” Lock pants when she gets to the base and twists, breaking off the spell and leaving him wrapped and ready for her.

“That’s the idea,” she replies as she slips off her underwear, tossing it off to the side before climbing up onto the counter. Lock thrashes under her, his tail wrapping tight around her thigh as she balances on her knees above him, her dress pooling around them. 

Lock pants, eyes locked on hers as she positions herself, and lowers. She pauses, the muscles of her thighs bunching just as the head of his cock presses against her.

“What are you _not_ going to do this time?” she asks him, hands reaching down to slide up his shirt, making it ruffle around his chest. Her nails leave uneven lines of red up his pale skin.

“Disappoint you,” he replies, his tail stroking up her thigh to flick against her clit.

“Good.”

Shock sinks down. 

After the amount of teasing she’s endured the last few days, she is more than slick enough to take him, though it does take a few pulses of her hips to be able to take his length comfortably. The way he groans, she doubts he cares, and she enjoys feeling the head of him shallowly slide in and out of her until she’s ready to seat herself over his hips.

“Shock,” he pants as she pulls in a trembling breath above him, thin fingers splayed over his chest. Like this, she takes a little more than is completely comfortable, at least at first, and she forces herself to stop and wait to adjust. His cock is a hot line inside her, making her walls spasm around him. For as long as they have been doing this, she is still in awe by just how warm he is when he first pushes inside her. It really is like he is made out of nothing but flames.

“Good job,” she manages as she shifts her hips in a small circle, making Lock shudder under her. “You haven’t started spitting fire yet.” Even as she says it she pushes the cooling enchantment around herself, making sure to protect herself in case his heat spikes, which she is sure it will.

“Let me up, and I’ll fill _you_ with fire,” he bites. It’s both a threat and a promise. Shock grins down at him as she bunches her thighs, knees digging into his sides as she lifts herself up and then slowly lowers herself back down. Both of them make pleased groans as she begins to ride him, moving up and down with a mix of shallow and long presses of her hips. Lock’s tail twitches around her thigh whenever she rolls down fully, her hips circling to make him burst into a series of pants. While he isn’t spitting fire, she can see his breath coming out in steaming puffs. 

“What’s wrong?” she asks as she seats herself fully, doing her best to keep her own voice under control as she clenches her insides down on him. It makes him give a strangled snarl as he glares up at her. “Getting close already?” 

“Just getting started.”

Shock should expect the tail, but she’s too caught up in being filled to remember it exists. The appendage slides over the cleft of her ass, pressing against her hole with a teasing wriggle. It makes her gasp, her back arching slightly. He doesn’t press in, he’d tried that before once and that had gone poorly. A little pain isn’t a bad thing for them, but the flared tail had almost ripped her apart, and both of them had agreed against his tail ever entering her backside again. 

The tip, however, is alright to tease with as he pleases, and tease he does. It doesn’t press enough to breach, but enough to provide sensation, and Shock finds her hips moving on their own accord and not of her brain’s. 

“You sound so much better when you’re groaning,” Lock snarls, and Shock can’t make much of a response as the tail flicks and presses, throwing off her concentration. The hips beneath her suddenly jerk up, her spell slipping enough to allow minor movement. It makes her entire body rise, Lock sinking deep while she gasps hard against the press into her cervix. It is a sweet burn that repeats as he does it again, his hips jerking up harder as she loses her grip more and more. She tries to keep it, Hecate knows she does, but in the end, she feels the last tendrils of control leave as the tail pressed to her ass twists, flicks, and the cock in her twitches hard within her walls. 

“Gotcha,” he growls as his hands come up and grab her hips. Shock’s hands clench against Lock’s chest as he holds her tight and presses his feet against the edge of the island. It gives him newfound leverage that lets him slam up into her, making her feel white hot with sensation and a slice of pain that she craves. Her nails, jagged and uneven, drag over the skin of his chest and pull beads of blood forth. He hisses, but there is little pain in the sound as he does it again. 

“Fucking. Finally,” he bites the two words out as he keeps going, making Shock bounce and groan as she finds her eyes rolling in her skull. She feels the first tingles of orgasm when he suddenly shoves her off and sideways, almost sending her off the island. Shock gives a squawk of surprise, Lock’s tail the only thing that keeps her from falling as it jerks her thigh. 

“What are you—” but she doesn’t get a chance to ask him too much as he pulls her. She falls onto her forearms, her legs suddenly off the counter, and finds his sharp nails digging into her thighs.

“Making sure you’re not disappointed.” 

Shock’s nails scramble for purchase, hooking over the other side of the island as he jerks her legs apart, her hips just barely on the counter as he holds up her lower body. He shoves back inside with no preface, and she screams out as her fingers lock around the splintering wood. Her dress rubs over her chest and belly with each thrust, setting her skin aflame with friction as Lock fucks into her with abandon. The position doesn’t let him in as deep, but that’s not a problem. She is still plenty full, and it adds the lightest flick of his balls against her clit. 

“L-Lock,” she chokes as she gets close. The tail around her leg is tight and hot, and Lock moves his hands to her hips. Shock’s legs curl back and up on instinct, the position not allowing them to fall. She presses her feet to his shoulders, forcing her to bend and stretch her waist as he holds her and keeps moving. 

Along her back she feels puffs of heat and smells the tang of bitter smoke; the cooling enchantment tingles where his breath hits her. Looking over her shoulder, she watches as flames lick out of Lock’s open mouth and he looks at her with black irises set inside golden sclera. 

She loses her breath under his stare, at seeing him spit fire all for her, and feels her body lock around his. Her fingers dig into the wood, her toes curl into his shoulders, and every muscle goes tight as her insides go vicelike around his cock.

It makes his movements stutter before he goes even harder, making her scream out some semblance of his name as he works sensitive muscles into a frenzy of a sensation bordering on pain. 

“Lock,” she whines as it gets close to almost too much before his thrusts become choppy and harsh, his body coming to a quick stop and press as she feels heat fill her. It’s almost too much, but the enchantment and magic condom do their job and protects her insides from the searing heat as he spits smoke and flame. Embers fall as stinging kisses against her skin as she feels saliva drip from her mouth as she silently screams, her nerves alighting in a secondary, overstimulated orgasm that threatens to snuff out her consciousness.

Lock’s hips stay flush against her for a moment longer before both of them go limp. His hot breath hits her back as he rests his face into her shoulder and her legs fall some, making the lip of the counter bite into her thighs. She pushes her face into the wood of the island and is thankful for how cool it is compared to the man on her back.

“Look outside,” Lock pants as Shock feels herself coming down. He’s still seated inside her, cock twitching as it starts to soften. 

Peaking, Shock watches as a bat swoops outside the window. 

“Told you I’d make you shake the belfry.” 

Shock donkey-kicks her leg backward, planting her heel in the center of his back.

Lock can only laugh as he finally slips from her, leaving her limp. He rolls her onto her back helping to situate her so that most of her body is on the island before he climbs up next to her. 

“Can you get this thing off me?” he asks her softly, mouth pushed to her sweaty scalp. 

She glances down at the balloon of black attached to the tip of his dick. With a flick of fingers, it pops and dissipates, dousing his thighs in sticky translucent cum. 

“The fuck!?” he shouts as he jerks up.

“You didn’t say please,” she grumbles with a smile. 

“Please,” he snarls. 

With a flick of her wrist, the mess dissipates. 

“Was that so hard?” She winks.

“I’ll show you what’s hard,” he grumbles as he pulls her to him, shoving his face into her hair as she giggles. The island is firm against her back, and no doubt uncomfortable on his side, but they don’t move.

“You okay,” he asks softly after a few more moments.

She hums an affirmation.

“Good.” He kisses her scalp. A few more minute tick by in the silent kitchen.

“Shouldn’t the spoon still be going?”

Shock’s eyes fly open as she sits up and looks over. The spoon has, indeed, stopped.

“Fuck,” she bites out as she quickly restarts the spell.

Next to her, Lock starts laughing. 

She shoves him off the island and smirks at the ‘ow’ that rises from the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Snuggles for these two is just hurling insults at the other about their performance with a sleepy grin.


	4. Fiends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so much fun working on this. I hope you all enjoy the last chapter!

“Soooo, is there going to be more than the ants?” 

Beauregard the demon imp stands between Barrel and Shock, one large wing bumping her while the other inches slowly around Barrel’s side. His usual brown shorts have been replaced with festive, bright orange, making the black fur of his body and red eyes stand out more than usual. All of them are in nicer versions of their usual garb, having dressed for the occasion. Shock’s even wearing a brazier, though that’s more for storing the small vials that she’s been tossing now and again to startle others. Barrel’s clothing looks more rust-stained than usual as well, giving him an even more frightening visage; the red almost looks like dried blood. 

Beauregard had given Barrel a lovely comment on it. Shock had wanted to hex him into the fountain for such a cheesy compliment, but then she saw how large Barrel had smiled. Shock wasn’t sure how to feel about that. There’s a lot of stuff about Beauregard she’s not sure about, but Barrel tolerates him, so she doesn’t hex him or try and drive him away. That and the fact that he really has done a good job setting up the extra pumpkin cannons. They are interspersed with the others, looking just as much like the official decorations as the rest. He’s earned her protection from the tanner for the night, not that it would do much. His skin and fur is darker than coal, though the glitter might turn him into a shimmering mess. 

“That would be telling,” Barrel replies with a grin, and it’s kind of sickening the way he leans into the demon. The wing that had been inching around him fully wraps about his shoulders and Shock just about gags as she watches Barrel’s cheeks tinge blue. Shock ignores the way Beauregard’s red eyes go soft. 

Hecate, they make her want to puke.

“Everything ready?” Lock asks as he sidles up to Shock, arm going around her waist possessively. She settles into his side just a little, arms crossed.

“I don’t know; you get the pump set up?” Shock asks back.

“Pump?” Beau blinks at them.

“Shock,” Barrel hisses.

“Oh come on, he doesn’t know what I’m talking about,” she grumbles as she watches the townsfolk clamber for spaces to watch the Halloween spectacular. Sally is off to the side, surrounded by her boney brats that hold hands and stick around her. Well, most of them; one of the younger is ducking around jabbing at ankles when Sally’s not looking. Her name is Shirley if Shock is remembering correctly. Shock smirks at her when her empty sockets meet Shock’s eyes; one is partially covered by the clump of cobwebs that keeps her slime-green bow stuck to her head, curling down one side of her skull.

“Mayor isn’t paying attention,” she whispers, letting the wind take the words to the child along with a tiny vile. “It’s a screamer,” she adds softly when Shirley looks down at her palm. A boney grin meets her’s, and off the child goes, moss-green patchwork dress bouncing around boney knees. She waves at two other children; one of which is the wolfman’s youngest daughter. She’s nothing but ill contained fuzz wrapped in barrets and skirted overalls. Shock knows her name starts with an R.

“Reika, Rita—” she mutters under her breath.

“Rudi,” Beauregard offers quietly, his eyes following the kids.

She nods as the little wolf-girl grabs the arm of a Sphinx boy. He is all gold and sandy fur with stunted hawk wings. He’s wearing black shorts, nicer than she usually sees him in with silver and gold trim of different symbols, and a black beanie with an ankh in the center. Small, gold cat ears push out of the fabric and press down almost flat to his head, and his lion’s tail thrashes behind him. She has no idea what his name is, and Beauregard must realize this.

“Kosey,” he offers with a chuckle. “Looks like you might finally get to pass on your titles.”

“Fat chance,” Shock mutters, though Barrel giggles excitedly as Lock hums. They all watch the children without actually watching; doing their best not to draw attention to them. 

The three fall to work, Shirley loosening the bolts on the Mayor’s wagon with Rudi as Kosey does his best to make them look innocuous. Not that he has to do much. No one else is watching them, all eyes either searching for Jack or darting to Shock and her boys; indirectly or not. No one even thinks to look at the children playing behind the Mayor’s wagon, or how Kosey keeps flashing his fangs at the jumpy skeleton steed connected to it.

Shock will have to remember to send them a little treat after all this.

People continue to mill about, excitement building as they wait for the spiders to draw their bows over their webs and start the strings singing.

“When are you going to start?” Beauregard asks, stooping slightly to whisper in Barrel’s ear.

“Just watch,” Barrel replies, poking him. “It’s not a trick if I tell you about it.”

“Fine,” Beauregard sighs as he shifts some more and rests his head on top of Barrel’s, his large mouth turned into a slight frown, though it’s definitely for show. Next to Shock, Lock is the one to make a gagging sound.

Beauregard gives him a glare from the corner of his eye and both wings wrap around Barrel, but Barrel pays no attention, eyes turned to the fountain though they flick to the kids now and then. A few moments later, there are cheers from down the road, the music starts, and Shock can’t help but grin. It’s stupid to want to sing with the rest of them, but it’s too contagious not to sing the town’s song on their holiday. It’s also the perfect distraction.

Jack comes into town smoking with fog this year, passing it around from person to person as he dances around the fountain. He touches it, and smog spreads over the water. Shock doesn’t have to look at her cohorts to know they are both grinning. It’s perfect.

“Now,” she whispers, but there is no need. Barrel is in the midst of hitting the button in his pocket.

The fountain explodes to cheers and screams, the town’s people thinking it is all a part of the show. It sends the fog outward, spreading it with the harsh spray of water that Shock keeps off of them easily. 

“Push your button,” Barrel hisses, and Shock watches a skeptical Beauregard pull out a little device. 

“Really? _He_ gets to do the honors?” Lock drawls.

Beauregard gives Lock a sneer before he hits the button with a sure thumb. The pumpkin cannons go off, spraying more tanner over the crowd. The fog spreads even more, following the tanner, until the whole town is a howling mess of swirling silver fog and song.

Tanner tinged water drips down the barrier Shock has set up, and as the fog starts to dissipate, she sees the first sparkles.

“Holy Hecate,” Beauregard breathes as he stares wide-eyed into the crowd. Monsters are laughing, dancing, not yet seeing what their little group sees; too involved in the celebration. Then there is a loud bang, a ghastly whiney from a boney stallion, and a thud and scrape before the Mayor gives a shriek that is not joyous. People are startled out of their holiday stupor as the Mayor’s cart dashes out of the town square. That’s when they start to notice.

“Vhat is dis?” Shock hears one Vampire ask, looking down at his hands, which have turned a lovely, shimmering brown.

“What indeed!?” Jack calls, removing the pumpkin from his head. The continual rain from the fountain splatters on him, smattering his skull and turning it brown.

“I’m glowing!” A witch shrieks in dismay. “I-I look so healthy!”

More shrieks and wails follow. Shock removes her hat and from it pulls a broom. From across the square, Shirley, Rudi, and Kosey stare at them in awe, their jaws agape, letting their teeth and fangs turn the same color as Shirley’s bones.

“How fast can you fly, Beau?” Shock asks as she places her hat back on her head.

“Huh?”

“We’re about to have a mob on our hands,” Lock replies, already moving to join Shock on her broom. 

“And unless you want to get doused, I suggest you grab Barrel and keep up.” She throws her leg over her broom as Beauregard looks at them with slight panic.

“W-what if I can’t?”

“Then I guess you two are going to have quite the tan.” Shock gives him a nasty grin as Barrel splutters.

“That wasn’t the plan!”

“I can carry him,” Beauregard adds quickly, moving in front of Barrel and crouching. Barrel quickly scrambles onto his back. It’s a funny site, seeing as Barrel’s body is at least twice as wide as Beauregard's.

“Then come on, before they dunk us.” Shock settles on the broom, Lock jumps on behind her, and she kicks off.

Beauregard jumps into the air, wings flapping hard enough that Shock’s broom shudders from the gust. Lock shouts in triumph as she cackles. Behind them, Barrel laughs, and it is followed by an unfamiliar whoop from Beauregard. The new voice falls into the chorus of their laughter easily as Lock grins into the side of her neck, tongue trailing upward.

Even with the wind whipping past them, she can smell his fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I make three OC children just for this chapter? Yes, yes I did, and I love them.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and another thank you to Nasubionna for commissioning me. I greatly enjoyed it.

**Author's Note:**

> All four chapters of this story are complete and will be posted within a few days of one another. 3 and 4 just one last go over with my beta before I post them.


End file.
